Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Journal of Renewable Energy

Volume 2014, Article ID 629717, 12 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/629717

Research Article
Energy Efficient Hybrid Dual Axis Solar Tracking System

Rashid Ahammed Ferdaus,1 Mahir Asif Mohammed,1 Sanzidur Rahman,1

Sayedus Salehin,2 and Mohammad Abdul Mannan1
1
Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh, Road 14, Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Banani,
Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh
2
Department of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, Islamic University of Technology (IUT),
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Board Bazar, Gazipur 1704, Bangladesh

Correspondence should be addressed to Rashid Ahammed Ferdaus; rashidferdaus@yahoo.com

Received 16 April 2014; Accepted 16 June 2014; Published 8 July 2014

Academic Editor: Jayanta Deb Mondol

Copyright © 2014 Rashid Ahammed Ferdaus et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.

This paper describes the design and implementation of an energy efficient solar tracking system from a normal mechanical
single axis to a hybrid dual axis. For optimizing the solar tracking mechanism electromechanical systems were evolved through
implementation of different evolutional algorithms and methodologies. To present the tracker, a hybrid dual-axis solar tracking
system is designed, built, and tested based on both the solar map and light sensor based continuous tracking mechanism. These
light sensors also compare the darkness and cloudy and sunny conditions assisting daily tracking. The designed tracker can track
sun’s apparent position at different months and seasons; thereby the electrical controlling device requires a real time clock device
for guiding the tracking system in seeking solar position for the seasonal motion. So the combination of both of these tracking
mechanisms made the designed tracker a hybrid one. The power gain and system power consumption are compared with a static
and continuous dual axis solar tracking system. It is found that power gain of hybrid dual axis solar tracking system is almost
equal to continuous dual axis solar tracking system, whereas the power saved in system operation by the hybrid tracker is 44.44%
compared to the continuous tracking system.

1. Introduction atoms, allowing electrons to flow through the material to

During the last few years the renewable energy sources
like solar energy have gained much importance in all over
the world. Different types of renewable or green energy
resources like hydropower, wind power, and biomass energy
are currently being utilized for the supply of energy demand.
Among the conventional renewable energy sources, solar
energy is the most essential and prerequisite resource of
sustainable energy [1, 2].
Solar energy refers to the conversion of the sun’s rays into
useful forms of energy, such as electricity or heat. A photovol-
taic cell, commonly called a solar cell or PV, is the technology
used to convert solar energy directly into electrical power.
The physics of the PV cell (solar cell) is very similar to the
classical p-n junction diode. Sunlight is composed of photons
or particles of solar energy. Semiconductor materials within
the PV cell absorb sunlight which knocks electrons from their
produce electricity [3, 4]. Because of its cleanliness, ubiquity,
abundance, and sustainability, solar energy has become well
recognized and widely utilized [5].
Different researches estimate that covering 0.16% of the
land on earth with 10% efficient solar conversion systems
would provide 20 TW of power, nearly twice the world’s con-
sumption rate of fossil energy [6]. This proves the potential of
solar energy which in turn points out the necessity of tracking
mechanism in solar systems. The tracking mechanism is
an electromechanical system that ensures solar radiation is
always perpendicular to the surface of the photovoltaic cells
(solar cells) which maximizes energy harnessing [7].
Over the years, researchers have developed smart solar
trackers for maximizing the amount of energy generation.
Before the introduction of solar tracking methods, static solar
panels were positioned with a reasonable tilted angle based
on the latitude of the location. In this competitive world of
2 Journal of Renewable Energy
Sun
West
𝛼
Earth’s surface North
South 𝛽
East
Figure 1: Illustration of the solar angles: (a) altitude angle, 𝛼; (b)
azimuthal angle, 𝛽. The solar path corresponds to a day in the early
fall or late winter seasons in the northern hemisphere, that is, just
prior to the spring equinox or just after the fall equinox. Solar noon
is the time of day when 𝛽 = 180 degree, that is, the sun is directly at
south and is halfway between sunrise and sunset.
advanced scientific discoveries, the introductions of auto-
mated systems improve existing power generation by 50% [8].
There are mainly two types of solar trackers on the basis
of their movement degrees of freedoms. These are single axis
solar tracker and dual axis solar tracker. Again these two
systems are further classified on the basis of their tracking
technologies. Active, passive, and chronological trackers are
three of them [9, 10].
Previous researchers used single axis tracking system
which follows only the sun’s daily motion [11]. But the earth
follows a complex motion that consists of the daily motion
and the annual motion. The daily motion causes the sun to
appear in the east to west direction over the earth whereas
the annual motion causes the sun to tilt at a particular angle
while moving along east to west direction [12].
Figure 1 shows the daily and annual motion of the sun.
The sun’s location in the sky relative to a location on the
surface of the earth can be specified by two angles as shown
in Figure 1. They are (1) the solar altitude angle (𝛼) and (2) the
solar azimuth angle (𝛽). Angle 𝛼 is the angle between the sun’s
position and the horizontal plane of the earth’s surface while
angle 𝛽 specifies the angle between a vertical plane containing
the solar disk and a line running due south [13].
Solar tracking is best achieved when the tilt angle of
the solar tracking systems is synchronized with the seasonal
changes of the sun’s altitude. An ideal tracker would allow
the solar modules to point towards the sun, compensating
for both changes in the altitude angle of the sun (throughout
the day) and latitudinal offset of the sun (during seasonal
changes). So the maximum efficiency of the solar panel is not
being used by single axis tracking system whereas double axis
tracking would ensure a cosine effectiveness of one.
In active tracking or continuous tracking, the position of
the sun in the sky during the day is continuously determined
by sensors. The sensors will trigger the motor or actuator
to move the mounting system so that the solar panels will
always face the sun throughout the day. If the sunlight is not
perpendicular to the tracker, then there will be a difference
in light intensity on one light sensor compared to another.
This difference can be used to determine in which direction
the tracker has to be tilted in order to be perpendicular
to the sun. This method of sun tracking is reasonably
accurate except on very cloudy days when it is hard for
the sensors to determine the position of the sun in the sky
[14].
Passive tracker, unlike an active tracker which determines
the position of the sun in the sky, moves in response to an
imbalance in pressure between two points at both ends of
the tracker. The imbalance is caused by solar heat creating
gas pressure on a “low boiling point compressed gas fluid,
that is, driven to one side or the other” which then moves
the structure. However, this method of sun tracking is not
accurate [15, 16].
A chronological tracker is a time-based tracking system
where the structure is moved at a fixed rate throughout the
day as well for different months. Thus the motor or actuator
is controlled to rotate at a slow average rate of one revolution
per day (15∘ per hour). This method of sun tracking is more
energy efficient [17].
To track the sun’s movement accurately dual axis tracking
system is necessary. The active/continuous tracking system
tracks the sun for light intensity variation with precision.
Hence, the power gain from this system is very high [18].
But to achieve this power gain the system uses two different
motors continuously for two different axes. As a result it
always consumes a certain amount of extra power compared
to time-based tracking system. Therefore to reduce this
power loss a combination of active and time-based tracking
could be the suitable alternative to this system. Finally the
motivation of the research was to design and implement a
hybrid dual axis solar tracking system which reduces the
motor power consumption while tracking accurately.
A simple energy efficient and rugged tracking model
is presented in this paper in order to build a hybrid dual
axis solar tracker. To track the sun’s daily motion, that
is, from east to west direction, a pair of light sensors are
used and to track the seasonal motion of the sun real time
clock (RTC) is used to create the accurate azimuth angle
from some predetermined parameters. The light intensity is
compared by microcontroller and it generates the suitable
control signals to move the motors in proper direction. So
a driver circuit is used to increase the voltage and current
level for the operation of the motors. Two full geared stepper
motors are used for rotating the solar module in two different
axes.
A versatile mechanical system is introduced as a linear
actuator to create proper tilt angle. In addition, this linear
actuator has high weight lifting capability which is observed
experimentally. It is found that energy efficient hybrid dual
axis tracking yields almost same energy as continuous dual
axis solar tracking system. It is also observed that in hybrid
tracking system one motor can remain idle for one month
and thus reduces more than 44% of power consumption as
compared with continuous dual axis solar tracking system.
This mechanism proved significant benefit of reducing energy
consumption by hybrid tracker sacrificing a very little track-
ing loss. This paper also represents the comparative study
between the continuous/active and hybrid solar tracking
system.
Journal of Renewable Energy
(a)
Figure 2: Design and implementation of linear actuator: (a) implementation and placement of linear actuator with the aluminium body of
panel carrier; (b) hardware design of linear actuator in computer aided drafting tool.
2. Design and Implementation Process
The whole work involves the reading of different sensor
values and then comparing them digitally to determine the
exact position of the sun in east-west direction. Again the
system is also given some predefined values based on the sun’s
geographical location in the north-south direction. Overall
the entire system can intelligently track the sun’s movement
both in horizontal and vertical axis. In order to simplify
the design and implementation process the whole system is
divided into two parts.
These are as follows:
(A) mechanical system design;
(B) electrical circuit design.
(A) Mechanical System Design. Assembling the mechanical
system was the most challenging part of this system because
the objective was to make an energy efficient solar tracking
system which demanded intelligent operations of the tracking
motors. Generally one of these motors is used for daily
tracking (east-west motion) and other for making a seasonal
tracking (north-south motion). So the daily tracking motor
operates continuously based on light sensors and the annual
motion tracking motor operates only a few times over the
year. So for design and implementation process the whole
mechanical system is mainly divided into three parts as
follows:
(1) linear actuator;
(2) panel carrier;
(3) panel carrier rotator.
(1) Linear Actuator. A linear actuator converts circular motion
to a linear vertical motion in contrast to the circular motion
of a conventional electric motor. The linear vertical motion is
3
(b)
used for creating the seasonal angle of the sun. In this tracking
system linear actuator consists of one stepper motor, screw
thread, bolt, bearing, circular rod, and some pieces of wood.
Figure 2 shows the mechanical design and structure of linear
actuator. Experimentally it is found that this mechanical
structure has a special feature of high weight lifting using a
low power stepper motor.
Linear actuator gives the linear motion in vertical axis
(upward and downward) and is connected to one end of panel
carrier through a straight single rod hook. The rod hook is
attached to the wooden frame. There are some bolts and these
are tied with seven 15-inch long circular rods of 2 mm diame-
ter. There is also a 13-inch long screw thread and its diameter
is 6 mm. A bolt is attached in the middle of the wooden frame
and this bolt is also tied with the screw thread. Four circular
rods are also mortised through the wooden frame.
The wooden frame moves up and down along with the
bolt and the single rod hook. It works in such a way that
the wooden frame does not let the bolt move along with
the thread screw rather when the thread screw moves then
the four circular rods mortised into the wooden frame cause
the bolt to move up or down. Now when the single rod
hook moves upward or downward it moves along with the
panel carrier. The two ends of screw thread are placed in two
bearings which helps it to rotate smoothly. These bearings are
mortised into the roof and floor. One gear is also placed at the
bottom of the screw thread and this gear is connected to the
stepper motor gear which is placed on the floor of the linear
actuator body. The floor and roof of the linear actuator are
made of wood which holds all the linear actuator instruments.
(2) Panel Carrier. Panel carrier is basically a rectangular frame
made of aluminum which holds the solar panel with the help
of a circular rod. One end of the horizontal base of the panel
carrier is attached with the single rod hook of linear actuator
and other with the panel carrier rotator. Figure 3 shows the
design and implementation of panel carrier. A stepper motor
4 Journal of Renewable Energy

(a) (b)

Figure 3: Design and implementation of panel carrier: (a) implementation and placement of panel carrier with the linear actuator and panel
carrier rotator; (b) hardware design of Panel carrier in computer aided drafting tool.

(a) (b)
Figure 4: Design and implementation of panel carrier rotator: (a) implementation and placement of panel carrier rotator with the panel
carrier and a wooden base; (b) hardware design of panel carrier rotator in computer aided drafting tool.

with a gear is placed on the body of the aluminium frame.
When the stepper motor rotates along with its gear then the
panel rotates from east to west by tracking sun’s daily motion
actively.
The light sensors are placed at the two ends of solar panel.
Again the rectangular aluminium frame has a rectangular
mortise in its horizontal base. Single circular rod hook from
linear actuator goes through this mortise. Thus it helps to lift
the panel carrier in a semi-circular path to get sun’s tilt angle
caused by seasonal/annual motion. While the linear actuator
lifts one end of panel carrier the other end needs to be fixed
with a panel carrier rotator to get the perfect circular motion.
(3) Panel Carrier Rotator. Panel carrier rotator is used to hold
one end of the horizontal base of the solar panel carrier.
One screw thread, gear, and position sensors are used in this
panel carrier rotator to give a circular movement to the panel
carrier. Its base is fixed on a wooden floor. Figure 4 shows
the design and implementation of panel carrier rotator and
Figure 5 shows the experimental setup of the hybrid dual axis
solar tracker.
(B) Electrical Circuit Design. The whole electrical system
is mainly divided into three units. These are sensor unit,
control unit, and movement adjustment unit. Sensor unit
senses three different parameters (light, time, and position)
and converts it to appropriate electrical signals. Then the
electrical signals from sensor unit are sent to control unit.
Control unit determines the direction of the movement of the
motors both in the horizontal and vertical axes. Finally the
movement adjustment unit adjusts the position of the solar
module by receiving signal from the control unit. This adjust-
ment is done by using two geared unipolar stepper motors.
Figure 6 shows the overall block diagram of the whole
system.
(1) Sensor Unit. The sensor unit consists of three sensor cir-
cuits. These are as follows:
(a) light sensor;
(b) real time clock;
(c) position sensor.
Journal of Renewable Energy 5

1.0 RLDR

Light sensor output

R1

Figure 5: Experimental setup of the Hybrid dual axis solar tracker.

Sensor unit Control unit Movement adjustment unit

Light
sensor Motor Stepper
Figure 7: Basic LDR circuit.
Microcontroller

driver motor
Real time
clock
Motor Stepper
Position driver motor
sensor
R1 R2
Figure 6: Block diagram of the electrical circuit. U2
SCL to controller 6 SCL X 1
5 SDA 1
SDA to controller
7 SOUT Xcrystal

(a) Light Sensor. Light sensors are used for measuring light
intensity and generating a corresponding analog voltage
signal into the input of the analog to digital converter of the
microcontroller. Since this is a hybrid dual axis solar tracking
system so, to track the sun’s daily motion continuously, that
is, from east to west, a pair of light dependent resistors (LDR)
is used as light sensors. On the other hand, the sun’s annual
motion, that is, from north to south, is tracked by the real
time clock (RTC) device and position sensor.
A light dependent resistor (LDR) is a resistor whose
resistance decreases with increasing incident light intensity.
Figure 7 shows the basic LDR circuit and Table 1 shows the
different specifications of LDR used in the tracking system
[19]. The relationship between the resistance 𝑅LDR (resistance
of LDR) and light intensity (Lux) for a typical LDR is given in
following equation [20]:
500
𝑅LDR = ( ) kΩ,
Lux
where 𝑅LDR = Resistance of LDR.
(b) Real Time Clock. Real time clock is a clock device that
keeps track of the current time. There are different types of
real time clock (RTC) device; among them DS1307 is used
here. This is a battery-backed real time clock (RTC), that is,
connected to microcontroller via I2C bus to keep track of
time even if it is reprogrammed or if the power is lost.
3 VBAT X
2
DS1307
3V
battery
Figure 8: Real time clock circuit.
This device is suitable for data logging, clock-building,
time stamping, timers, alarms, and so forth. Microcontroller
takes the month and hour values from the RTC device to
track the sun’s annual motion and the darkness of night to
take the solar panel at its initial position. Figure 8 shows the
basic RTC circuit. In the figure U2 is the RTC chip. Address
and data from RTC chip are transferred serially through an
I2C, bidirectional bus. The two I2C signals are serial data
(1)
(SDA) and serial clock (SCL) and these two signals are sent
to controller with two pull-up resistors 𝑅1 and 𝑅2 . Together,
these signals make it possible to support serial transmission of
8 bit bytes of data-7 bit device addresses plus control bits-over
the two-wire serial bus. 𝑋crystal is a 32.768 kHz quartz crystal
used for required clock generation for RTC chip And B1 is a
3-volt battery used for power backup in case of power failure.
(c) Position Sensor. Position sensor detects the sun’s annual
motion. A variable resistor is used here as position sensor.
6 Journal of Renewable Energy
Table 1: Specification of LDR.
Dark resistance Illuminated resistance Sensitivity
(MΩ) (kΩ) (Ω/lux)
20 5–20 0.9
Position sensor output
Figure 9: Position sensor circuit.
Figure 9 shows a variable resistor connected to another
resistor 𝑅1 . So when the resistivity of variable resistor changes
the position sensor output also changes. The output from this
circuit goes to controller and different voltages in the output
of position sensor circuit represent different latitude angle of
the sun for its annual motion.
Position sensor is placed in the panel carrier rotator.
When linear actuator moves linearly then panel carrier
rotator rotates a semicircular path which causes the position
sensor to change its voltage level. The panel carrier rotator
rotates 50∘ degree in a semicircular path with respect to
the horizontal axis as in the experimental location sun’s
latitude angle changes in between this 50∘ . The panel carrier
rotator can rotate 75∘ in both sides which may also be
applicable in other locations. In that case the sensor has to
be calibrated accurately. For 12 months different 12 values
of sun’s latitude angle are predetermined and set in the
microcontroller and with respect to these values microcon-
troller decides how much to move the linear actuator. Panel
carrier rotator rotates due to the linear actuator’s linearly
upward and downward motion with the panel carrier. A
gear is placed with the panel carrier rotator which also
rotates with it. This gear rotation causes the variable resistor’s
gear to rotate and this is how the resistivity of the variable
resistor changes. Thus the signal is changing from the position
sensor.
(2) Control Unit. Microcontroller is the main control unit of
this whole system. The output from the sensor unit comes to
Spectral application range Rise time Fall time
(nm) (ms) (ms)
400–700 70 15
RVR
50%
R1
the input of the microcontroller which determines the direc-
tion of the movement of the motors both in the horizontal and
vertical axes. For this research ATmega32 microcontroller is
used. This is from the Atmel AVR family. Figure 10 shows
the main flowchart of the microcontroller programming.
Figure 11 shows another flowchart of the microcontroller
programming which is a part of the main flowchart showed
in Figure 10.
(3) Movement Adjustment Unit. Movement adjustment unit
consists of two geared unipolar stepper motors along with
their motor driver device. The output from microcontroller is
sent to the motor driver which executes the proper sequence
to turn the stepper motors in the required direction. To run
the unipolar stepper motor in full drive or half drive mode
ULN2803 is used as motor driver IC. This driver is an array
of eight Darlington transistors. Darlington pair is a single
transistor with a high current gain. Thus the current gain
is required for motor drive and it reduces the circuit space
and complexity. Figure 12 shows the unipolar stepper motor,
motor driver device, and Darlington pair.
The two full geared stepper motors are used here for the
accurate tracking of the sun. For our experimental purpose
a small scale system was implemented for 3-watt solar panel.
The specifications of solar panel and gear and stepper motors
are listed as follows.
Specifications of solar panel as load of the motor:
mass of solar panel, 𝑚 = 0.75 Kg;
Journal of Renewable Energy 7

Start

Take reading from ADC port and RTC

While time is
3:00 a.m.
While time is 7:00 a.m.

Take reading
2 from ADC port Take reading from ADC port and RTC
and RTC

If time is If the time is

1 7:00 a.m. 22:00 p.m.

Break Break

While there is While sunlight is bright While there is

low light no light

Take reading from

ADC port and Take reading from ADC port Take reading from ADC port
RTC and RTC and RTC

Stop the motor

If light brightness is Take the panel motor towards
same or low or dark If sunlight in west side east direction
If sunlight in east side
is bright
is bright
If it is dark or time If time is 21:00 p.m.
is 20:00 p.m. Stop the panel motor
Run the panel Run the panel motor in
motor in clock wise anticlockwise direction
direction Break Break
Break

Figure 10: Main flowchart of microcontroller programming.

length of solar panel, 𝐿 = 0.165 m; step angle, 𝜃𝑠 = 0.044∘ ;

width of solar panel, 𝐷 = 0.23 m; angle coefficient, 𝑛 = 3.6∘ /𝜃𝑠 = 81.81.
height of solar panel, 𝐻 = 0.015 m;. For the pull-out frequency of 100 Hz the required motor
−4 3 torque to rotate the panel is calculated as follows [21–23].
volume of solar panel, V = 𝐿×𝐷×𝐻 = 5.69×10 m ; Calculation of moment of inertia is given as follows:
density, 𝜌 = (𝑚/V) = 1318.10 kg⋅m−3 . Inertia of the load is
𝜋 𝑁2 2
Specifications of gears: 𝐽𝐿 = × 𝜌 × 𝐿 × 𝐷4 × ( ) = 0.0597 kg ⋅ m2 , (2)
32 𝑁1
number of gear teeth, 𝑁1 = 𝑁2 = 24; inertia of gear 1 is
mass of gear, 𝑚𝐺1 = 𝑚𝐺2 = 5 × 10−3 kg;
1 𝑁2 2
diameter of gear, 𝐷𝐺1 = 𝐷𝐺2 = 0.027 m. 𝐽𝐺1 = × 𝑚𝐺1 × 𝐷𝐺1 2 × ( ), (3)
8 𝑁1
Specifications of motor: inertia of gear 2 is
1
inertia of motor, 𝐽𝑚 ≈ 0; × 𝑚𝐺2 × 𝐷𝐺2 2 ,
𝐽𝐺2 = (4)
8
pull-out torque = 0.147 N⋅m;
number of gear teeth, 𝑁1 = 𝑁2 so,
pull-out frequency, 𝑓 = 100 Hz;
1
friction coefficient, 𝜇 = 0.05; 𝐽𝐺1 = 𝐽𝐺2 = × 𝑚𝐺2 × 𝐷𝐺2 2 = 4.56 × 10−7 kg ⋅ m2 . (5)
8
8 Journal of Renewable Energy

If position sensor angle ≥ If position sensor angle If position sensor angle ≤

sun altitude angle = sun altitude angle sun altitude angle

Run the linear actuator motor in Stop the linear Run the linear actuator motor in anti-
clockwise actuator motor clockwise

While month is from While month is from

July to December January to June

Take reading from ADC port and RTC Take reading from ADC port and RTC

Run the linear Run the linear

actuator motor in If position sensor angle =
sun altitude angle If position sensor angle = actuator motor in
anticlockwise sun altitude angle clockwise

Stop the linear actuator motor and

break Stop the liner actuator motor and break

Figure 11: Continuation of main flowchart of microcontroller programming.

So, inertia of the system is Calculation of load torque is given as follows.

Now, load torque is
𝐽𝑇 = 𝐽𝐿 + 𝐽𝐺1 + 𝐽𝐺2 + 𝐽𝑚 = 0.0597 kg ⋅ m2 . (6)
𝐹×𝐷
Calculation of acceleration torque is given as follows. 𝑇𝐿 = + 𝑇𝐹 = 0.0423 N ⋅ m; (9)
Now, acceleration torque is 2

𝜋 × 𝜃𝑠 here, load torque due to friction, 𝑇𝐹 ≈ 0.

𝑇𝑎 = 𝐽𝑇 × × 𝑓2 = 5.60 × 10−3 N ⋅ m. (7)
180 × 𝑛 Calculation of required motor torque is given as follows.
Total calculated torque is
Force to rotate the load is

𝐹 = 𝑚 × 𝑔 (sin 𝜃 + 𝜇 × cos 𝜃) = 0.3675 N ⋅ m. (8) 𝑇𝑇 = 𝑇𝑎 + 𝑇𝐿 = 0.0479 N ⋅ m. (10)

Journal of Renewable Energy 9

(BC)

Collector

U3
A1 A4
COM 10
A2 A3 A
1 1B 1C 18 A1
B 2 2B 2C 17 A2
Base TR1
+88.8 C 3 3B 3C 16 A3
(BC) D 4 4B 4C 15 A4
E 5 5B 5C 14 B1
6 Emitter TR2
F 6B 6C 13 B2
G 7 7B 7C 12 B3
H 8 8B 8C 11 B4 Base
B1 B4
ULN2803
Emitter
B2 B3
+88.8
(a) (b)

Figure 12: Movement adjustment unit: (a) the unipolar stepper motor and motor driver device (ULN2803) and (b) Darlington pair.

Required motor torque is 0.6

𝑇𝑀 = 𝐾𝑠 × 𝑇𝑇 = 0.0958 N ⋅ m. (11) 0.5

Here, safety factor, 𝐾𝑠 = 2. 0.4

Current (A)

∴ Required motor torque < pull-out torque. 0.3

So from the above comparison it is clear that pull-out
torque of 0.147 N⋅m. of stepper motor is sufficient enough to 0.2
rotate the solar panel of 0.75 kg. 0.1

0
3. Experimental Results and Data Analysis
7:30

8:30

9:30

10:30

11:30

12:30

13:30

14:30

15:30

16:30

(A) Comparative Study of Solar Panel Power Output. All
the experiments have been conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh
(23∘ 42󸀠 0󸀠󸀠 N 90∘ 22󸀠 30󸀠󸀠 E). Table 2 shows the current and
voltage values received from the static panel, hybrid tracking
system, and continuous tracking system for different times
in a day. From Table 2 it is seen that at 8:00 am there is
much improvement in current by both the tracking systems
compared to the static panel. But as time goes on the
difference in current among these three systems decreases
up to around 11:00 am. After that when the sun rotates more
towards west this difference increases again. The highest
current of static panel, hybrid tracking system, and contin-
uous tracking system is 0.47 amp, 0.48 amp, and 0.50 amp,
respectively, at 12:30 pm. But in case of voltage the variation is
less compared to current as the voltage has no direct relation
with the sun light intensity. Figure 13 shows the comparison
of current versus time curves for the static panel, hybrid
tracking system, and continuous tracking system.
Table 3 shows the power values of the static panel and
both the tracking systems. The power gain of tracking systems
over static panel and between the two tracking systems
for different times is also given in Table 3. The maximum
power output of the static panel, hybrid tracking system,
and continuous tracking system is found as 3.7036 watt,
3.7824 watt, and 3.94 watt, respectively at 12:30 pm. Much
more power gain is achieved in the morning and afternoon
because both the tracking systems can accurately track the
17:30
Time (hour)
Current (static panel)
Current (hybrid tracking)
Current (continuous tracking)
Figure 13: Comparison curve: comparison of current versus time
curve for the static panel, hybrid tracking system, and continuous
tracking system.
sun at these times while the static system cannot. For all these
technologies power fall was very fast from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm
because of the low duration of day light.
The total power of static panel, hybrid tracking system,
and the continuous tracking system throughout the day is
45.21 watt, 56.69 watt, and 58.24 watt, respectively. So the
average power gain of hybrid tracking system over the
static panel is 25.62%. Similarly the average power gain of
continuous tracking system over the static panel is 28.10% and
over the hybrid tracking system is 4.19%.
(B) Comparison of Stepper Motor Power Consumption. The
power consumption by the stepper motors in both the solar
tracking system is not same. Table 4 shows the comparison of
stepper motors power consumption between the two tracking
systems.
10 Journal of Renewable Energy

Table 2: Current and voltage values of static and tracking panel at different times in a day.
Time Static panel Hybrid tracking system Continuous tracking system
(hour) Current Voltage Current Voltage Current Voltage
(ampere) (volt) (ampere) (volt) (ampere) (volt)
7:30 0.11 7.82 0.17 7.82 0.19 7.92
8:00 0.14 7.82 0.21 7.82 0.23 7.92
8:30 0.22 7.83 0.24 7.83 0.24 7.9
9:00 0.27 7.9 0.34 8 0.35 8
9:30 0.35 7.93 0.39 7.98 0.39 7.98
10:00 0.39 7.92 0.41 7.92 0.41 7.92
10:30 0.41 7.88 0.43 7.92 0.43 7.92
11:00 0.45 7.88 0.45 7.88 0.45 7.88
11:30 0.46 7.88 0.46 7.88 0.46 7.88
12:00 0.46 7.88 0.48 7.88 0.48 7.88
12:30 0.47 7.88 0.48 7.88 0.5 7.88
13:00 0.43 7.88 0.48 7.88 0.49 7.88
13:30 0.4 7.77 0.47 7.81 0.48 7.81
14:00 0.33 7.79 0.45 7.83 0.46 7.93
14:30 0.26 7.71 0.44 7.71 0.44 7.83
15:00 0.18 7.63 0.37 7.76 0.37 7.9
15:30 0.14 7.54 0.31 7.7 0.31 7.86
16:00 0.11 7.52 0.25 7.73 0.26 7.86
16:30 0.09 7.41 0.19 7.71 0.2 7.71
17:00 0.07 7.39 0.13 7.65 0.15 7.71
17:30 0.04 7.33 0.08 7.5 0.1 7.64

Table 3: Power values of static and tracking panel and the corresponding power gain by tracking panel over static panel at different times in
a day.

Power gain by Power gain by Power gain by

Hybrid Continuous
Time Static panel hybrid tracking system continuous tracking system continuous tracking system
tracking panel tracking panel
(hour) over static panel over static panel over hybrid tracking system
Power Power Power
% % %
(watt) (watt) (watt)
7:30 0.8602 1.3294 1.5048 35.29412 42.83626 11.65603
8:00 1.0948 1.6422 1.8216 33.33333 39.89899 11.65603
8:30 1.7226 1.8792 1.896 8.333333 9.14557 9.848485
9:00 2.133 2.72 2.8 21.58088 23.82143 0.886076
9:30 2.7755 3.1122 3.1122 10.81871 10.81871 2.857143
10:00 3.0888 3.2472 3.2472 4.878049 4.878049 0
10:30 3.2308 3.4056 3.4056 5.132723 5.132723 0
11:00 3.546 3.546 3.546 0 0 0
11:30 3.6248 3.6248 3.6248 0 0 0
12:00 3.6248 3.7824 3.7824 4.166667 4.166667 0
12:30 3.7036 3.7824 3.94 2.083333 12.2449 0
13:00 3.3884 3.7824 3.8612 10.41667 12.2449 4
13:30 3.108 3.6707 3.7488 15.3295 17.09347 2.040816
14:00 2.5707 3.5235 3.6478 27.04129 29.52739 2.083333
14:30 2.0046 3.3924 3.4452 40.90909 41.8147 3.407533
15:00 1.3734 2.8712 2.923 52.16634 53.01403 1.532567
15:30 1.0556 2.387 2.4366 55.77713 56.67734 1.772152
16:00 0.8272 1.9325 2.0436 57.19534 59.52241 2.035623
16:30 0.6669 1.4649 1.542 54.47471 56.75097 5.436485
17:00 0.5173 0.9945 1.1565 47.98391 55.27021 5
17:30 0.2932 0.6 0.764 51.13333 61.62304 14.00778
Journal of Renewable Energy
Table 4: Comparison of stepper motor power consumption.
Hybrid tracking system
Power consumption Power consumption
for movement in east to west for movement in north to south
0.6 watt Almost zero ≈ 0
Total = 0.6 watt
Power saved = 44.44%
So power saved by hybrid tracking system over continu-
ous tracking system is 44.44%.
(C) Data Analysis. So from all these data it is seen that
the hybrid dual axis tracking system has average power
generation of 56.69 watt whereas the continuous tracking
system has 58.24 watt. Therefore continuous tracking system
has only 4.2% average power gain over hybrid dual axis
tracking system. On the other hand hybrid dual axis tracking
system is saving 44.44% system power consumption com-
pared to continuous tracking system. Though the continuous
tracking system gives a slight improvement in power gain,
due to its continuous tracking, it consumes much more
power compared to the hybrid dual axis tracking system.
Considering the case of 44.44% power saving by hybrid
tracking system, it can be concluded that the hybrid dual axis
tracking system can operate much more efficiently compared
to the continuous tracking system while sacrificing little
about 4.2% tracking accuracy.
4. Conclusion
The design, implementation, and testing of a hybrid dual
axis solar tracking system is presented in the study. The
Performance of the developed system was experimented and
compared with both the static and continuous dual axis solar
tracking system. This work demonstrates that hybrid dual
axis solar tracking system can assure higher power generation
compared to static panel as well as less power consumption
compared to continuous dual axis solar tracking system. The
result shows that the hybrid dual axis tracking system has
25.62% more average power gain over static system while it
has 4.2% less average power gain compared to continuous
tracking system. In hybrid dual axis solar tracking system
one motor runs continuously to track continuous movement
of sun due to daily motion and another motor runs once
in a month to track suns seasonal motion. But in other
trackers like in continuous solar tracker it needs to move both
the motors continuously. Thus the hybrid system is saving
motor power consumption while the power gain compared to
other technology is almost marginal. So further comparative
study about stepper motor power consumption shows that
hybrid tracking system can save 44.44% power compared to
continuous tracking system. This amount of power saving will
have a significant effect in large systems like heliostat power
plants where a lot of trackers are required and power saved by
all the systems will show a big amount of power. Other than
this the designed tracking system can also be implemented
11
Continuous tracking system
Power consumption Power consumption
for movement in east to west for movement in north to south
0.6 watt 0.48 watt
Total = 1.08 watt
for the solar thermal systems. Finally the proposed design is
achieved with low power consumption, high accuracy, and
low cost.
Conflict of Interests
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests
regarding the publication of this paper.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank M.D. Ahasanul Kabir of American Inter-
national University, Bangladesh (AIUB), for his help with the
mechanical system implementation.
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